Erik was born in Newbury Park California in 1974. He lived there most of his childhood, excluding a two year jaunt to Richland, Washington. He graduated from Newbury Park High School in 1992, graduating in the top 5% of his class. During his senior year he participated in Rockwell's Youth Motivation Program located at the Rockwell Science Center in Thousand Oaks, California. There he aided researchers in the testing and development of infrared detectors for use in military and astronomical devices. After graduation Erik came to San Diego for undergraduate work in mechanical engineering at the University of California, San Diego. There he began a five year commitment to studying a variety of subjects including fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, materials, electricity and magnetism, and mechanics. During his second year of schooling Erik worked as a teaching assistant for a CAD design class which dealt with AutoCAD and C programming. This entailed instructing three CAD design lab sessions per week totaling as many as 45 undergraduates. During the summer of 1994 Erik worked at two laboratories at UC San Diego. The first was with a bioengineering laboratory, headed by Professor Bob Sah, which researched the properties of tissue and cartilage. The second was at Professor Frank E. Talke's laboratory at The Center for Magnetic Recording Research (CMRR). There Erik began research in the field of head/tape interface. He currently works at CMRR investigating the asperity compliance of magnetic tape. Erik is now a fourth year engineering student who plans to go to graduate school after graduation to get his masters.
Last updated: June 4, 1996